TMNT: ROOFTOP RUN brings us our favorite mutant amphibians… running. At the risk of name-dropping, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise is worth having a look at in almost any form.

After picking a particular turtle to unlock, one gets to start the game; it starts off as a sidescrolling platformer. The selected character runs from right or left, and, as to be expected, there are a lot of obstacles to overcome. A major one is makes sense, based on the location of this initial challenge (rooftops); there are gaps in the running area, and to navigate these, one has to tap to invoke a jump, while double-tapping creates a double jumping move that helps with greater height and distance.

There are other baddies; dark clothed characters intend upon doing our runner bodily harm. Tapping on them attacks them. The biggest enemy — which is recurrent through the game — is the Kraang ship, which hovers in the background just over our runner. This ship opens up a new element, in that if the runner loses energy (running into obstacles, etc) it reaches him, and beams him up, effectively ending the run.

Making it to the end allows th player to get to vehicle mode. This is an interesting twist, as this changes the platformer to a three-lane runner for a spell. Here, the platforming protagonist hops into a a car and looks to avoid obstacles by swiping, while collecting the same energy orbs and keeping ahead of the Kraang ship. Basically, if one is able to run far enough, he/she is able to go back and forth between th two runnng senarios, with boss challenges thrown in for good measure. It comes together relatively well, using two play elements to counter and balance each other, and hopefully, this staves off boredom. For an action game, it’s a decent entry; the addition of combat and boss challenges also add to its allure.

But, ah, the elements are here are well done, and quite familiar.

In the end, it’s worth a look-see, if only for the great characters and the groovy graphics. For folks looking for a quick rush, it holds its own.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles features everyoneâ€™s favorite mutant abominations beating the heck out of a bunch of thugs and cracking one-liners. Whatâ€™s not to like? TMNT is loosely based on the rather lukewarmly received movie. Does it fare better than its big screen brethren?

TMNT plays less like a beat â€˜em up and more like a kind of strange rhythm game. Swiping at an enemy automatically moves the turtle next to that enemy and from there swipes in different direction results in different attacks. Some attacks are fast, some ignore blocking and others allow the player to dodge easily. New enemies constantly drop in and each stage involves defeating a bunch of them as stylishly as possible. The swipe based system works very well and it is a nice change to not have to deal with a virtual pad.
Enemies about to hit the player glow with lighting and a tap anywhere on the screen will stop their attack and counter attack them instead.

After a bit of combat a sequence can be unleashed where two or more turtles attack together. Some neat mini puzzles have to be completed to trigger the attack correctly and this is good fun and looks really cool.

TMNTâ€™s gameplay is fun stuff. Combat is satisfying, counter attacking is fun and the excellent sound and graphics really help the gameplay along. Between levels there are comic book cutscenes to expose more of the rather silly plot involving thugs taking over pizza restaurants and a proliferation of non-good mutants and these are lots of fun to watch.

Between bouts, players can spend coins earned on upgrades to turtles, such as making them stronger or faster. Gems can be spent on learning new moves as well. Gems are premium currency but are handed out rather often during gameplay. After finishing some levels the player will receive a few gems. Of course the player is never given enough gems to buy everything, but this doesnâ€™t really matter as the game is fun enough without all the moves.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles looks great. A coo cel-shaded style is easy on the eyes. Battles look very smooth and animate well and there is a good variety of enemies and punishing looking movies.

The sound is excellent as well. The game has tons of speech that is well acted and some pumping music and there is always something cool to look at or listen to. TMNT is very highly polished.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has a lot to do. There are plenty of stages and things to unlock and the game is fun so it is worth replaying older stages for more coins.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a fun game and a great surprise considering the track record of most movie games. While the gem system may be slightly irritating, the game itself is good stuff and very well made. Play it today!